I mean, I’m sure it was appropriate for the time and place, but he impregnated a 14-year-old and then later abandoned her and the kids he’d made. For the first half of the book I only cared about Alobar’s story because at least he had challenges to overcome. Priscilla was trying to do something (we weren’t told what) and she wanted money to do it, but we didn’t know why or what she hoped to gain by it. They were just kind of talking in circles about philosophy. I didn’t really empathize with them because I didn’t really feel like most of them were trying to do anything worthwhile. Even when someone wore a whale mask or was divorced from a famous accordion player, they tended to run together for me because I didn’t really know what anyone wanted. Most of them felt either cardboard or wacky or disgusting, or sometimes all three. It’s still wacky, but at least all the various plotlines eventually connect.Ĭons: I didn’t like any of the characters. They’re all strung together in ways that eventually make sense. It involves beets, the god Pan, a Pagan king, perfumers and a cult of people trying to find immortality. They got tiresome after a while, but they were impressive.Īlso, the story itself is wacky and whimsical and weird. A woman wears a smile you could mail a letter in. Flames dart from the boughs of a funeral pyre like finches from hell. The weather in New Orleans is like an obscene phone call from nature. I thought I was good at analogies, but Robbins really goes to extremes.

Pros: The writing on a sentence-by-sentence level is full of some of the most imaginative analogies I’d read anywhere. I did not enjoy it, though I can admire some of the skill that went into it. This book is unlike any other I have read. This author is unlike any other I have read. I really love this friend and wanted to know what she loved about this book if not for her, I would have quit many times. I read this book because my friend told me about it, saying it was her favorite book while referencing her beet tattoo.

Jitterbug perfume book review